


Pok-Pok Season

by 625



Category: All Hail King Julien
Genre: Alcohol, Fluffy, M/M, doctor s & rob are canon married, god do u kno how Difficulyt it was 2 write andy fairfax being nICE, hey should i tag this as like r13 cus theres alcohol even tho horst is a certified seshhead in canon, idk they all show up @ some point, pancho has ptsd, theres uh illegal cuddling felon cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 21:21:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14028999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/625/pseuds/625
Summary: Andy Fairfax wonders about his partner in crime, Pancho.





	1. just

Andy had been seeing Pancho around the Party Kingdom less and less over the past few days.

He would usually just find him milling about with the others in the morning when they all came outside to watch Xixi’s news show or to listen to one of Julien’s ‘ _Obsession Of The Day’_ speeches (Hector had dubbed it that once and it had stuck for some).

Andy had even asked Xixi if she had seen Pancho; all she had to report was that she had seen Pancho a few nights ago. He had gathered a small hill of pok-pok berries and was whacking them with a club while screaming: “ _I hate you! Hear that?!_ ”

It was weird not seeing his partner in crime after he had finished doing commercials; normally, Pancho would come and sit at the side of the set while Xixi covered the main headlines and they would snicker about people getting ripped off or about local gossip that Andy knew about simply from working in such close quarters with Xixi.

Sometimes, Pancho would even talk about his day. He was always getting into ridiculous situations even when the two of them weren’t together. Sappy as it _was,_ he always found himself to have a good day whenever he could make Pancho laugh or smile.

He was never exactly secretive whenever openly flirting with Pancho. He wasn’t even sure when he was joking anymore, seeing as he had actually come to like Pancho quite a lot.

He could never really tell if Pancho was joking either.

Pancho’s criminal urges were formulaic yet somehow he was never quite predictable. He came out with the weirdest things. He was very innovative and clever, despite him not being as typically ‘intelligent’. That didn’t matter.

Ever since he had walked into the prison canteen & witnessed this small and slightly chubby crowned lemur fight off three prison guards with a ladle he had stolen from the kitchen somehow, he knew that Pancho was special. Even if no one else could see his value, Pancho was certainly special to him.

 

Anyway; Andy assumed that it was because he was avoiding his annual medical checkup at the cave hospital. Dr. S and Nurse Phantom had been going _on_ at him to get Pancho to come to his checkup. Pancho had beaten him up the last time he tried getting him to go, though. 

He was considering doing a quick scout of the village when out came Ted; borderline stumbling out of a nearby bush.

“I’ve got an _offer_ for you.” The golden lemur beamed, albeit a bit nervously. “Okay, — oh, golly. How do I begin this-“

“What you after, Teddy?”

“Right! Well, so, Dorothy and I were preparing for the annual talent show, you know, the one the kids love and I said: Dorothy? Are you _sure_ that metal beam suspended above the crowd is safe? And then _Dorothy_ said-”

As Ted continued talking, Andy rolled his eyes and pushed past him to find out he was just standing in front of a dead lemur.

“And then _I_ said, I feel kinda _bad,_ you know? But Dorthy said that we could kind of _use_ the money and I haven’t really been progressing much as an unsigned stage personality and, well? Dorothy said, why don’t we go to that fella who does the commercials? Seeing as we’ve never valued a corpse _ourselves—“_

The bat cut him off for worry he might be there all day listening to him. He did assure him that he would make sure that he received a fair cut just for ‘being so handsome.’

 

That definitely shut Ted up.


	2. like

“Oh, _yes.”_ The cobra was practically dribbling onto the operating table. “What a lovely, _**fresh**_ corpse! I will gladly take it off of you ~ _yes,_ gladly!”

Nurse Phantom wheeled the gurney over to where the dead body was placed and began transferring the corpse.

Andy had made a slight error when first meeting Nurse Phantom (or, his real name, Rob McTodd). He had assumed that he followed the same thought process as most of the other lemurs in the kingdom. How was he to know that this _specific_ lemur had undergone an identity crisis and could now no longer ignore the truth in others?

Rob had never trusted Andy; the only reason there was no real conflict between them was because Andy was in business with Rob’s husband, the village doctor. They had a sort of — _‘goods trade’_ — arrangement going.

“We were expecting Pancho today?” Rob asked. “Do you remember the talk we had about Pancho being due for his checkup? Last week.”

“Remember that _time_ like, a few days ago, when Becca and Abner brought me in here?”

Rob nodded, intrigued, while readying hot towels for a separate patient who was shaking in terror in the corner as Dr. S gleefully wrapped his tail around a hacksaw.

“I tried gettin’ Panchy to come to his appointment here and he went _ballistic,_ I tells ya!”

“Oh!” Rob gasped. “I’m sorry, I just assumed you got jumped or something — you know, the usual.” He paused to wipe some dribble that was making its way down his chin. “Pancho attacked you?”

Andy nodded. “I dunno what the heck’s up wit’ him. He’s been so weird lately. I’m feelin’ like I shouldn’t be lettin’ him back in my house—“

The two were interrupted by a rattling sound that bounced off the cave walls. Dr.S slithered from the shadows, using the stalagmites to hold himself above the operating table.

“We must keep in mind, though, with cases such as Mr. Pancho’s you cannot really be too harsh on him.” The snake doctor said simply. “The degree of trauma he most likely experienced is beyond what we island creatures can be expected to process. Was there anything going on before the incident?”

The bat put his claw to his mouth in thought. “He didn’t wanna go to his checkup — like, he _really_ didn’t wanna go. I t’ink I tried dragging him but he just snapped—turned round an’ started kickin’ and bitin’…clawin’.”

Dr. S and Nurse Phantom exchanged a glance and the cobra nodded.

“It weren’t like how we usually fight.” Andy said as if it had only just occurred to him now. “He weren’t wrestlin’; it was more like real violent defence. _Frightened_ defence. Like I wasn’t the same bat to him in that moment. I mean, obviously if i’d been _prepared_ for that kinda fightin’ style I would’a beat him eas-”

“Perhaps he suffered a particularly upsetting flashback and felt under attack?” Dr. S added, twisting so that his head was upside-down. “It could have been triggered by a number of reasons. It is no surprise that he would go into defence to avoid doing the things he fears most. Mr. Pancho’s experiences have showed him that he has a lot to fear.”

“One of the reasons he’s so afraid is obvious.” Rob turned and spoke directly to his husband, “He doesn’t like being under. He’s probably afraid you’ll put a chip in his brain or something.”

“I would _never.”_ The snake grinned as he noticed Rob’s lopsided smile. “Unless — the time was right.” Dr. S suffered a giggling fit and slithered off (the lemur on the other side of the cave wasn’t exactly delighted that he had returned).

“Don’t pay any attention to him.” Rob smiled. “He’s joking. This time. I would know if he wasn’t.” He looked over at the fruit bat as he prepared to leave. _“So_ _?_ Are you and Pancho...?”

“Francisco? He’s my business partner.”

Rob gave a lopsided smirk. “Well, yes. But in the same way Dr. S and I are business partners.”

“He ain’t — I mean. I don’t t’ink it’s _mutual.”_

Rob glanced over at Dr. S who was on the other side of the cave trying to calm the screaming patient with a lollipop.

“You don’t _think?”_

Andy shrugged. “He always reacts so weird whenever I tell him I love him. Sometimes he just smacks me in the head, which is —just average Pancho behaviour, to be fair. Sometimes he goes outside and fills a pit full of dynamite and blows it up. But that’s just casual Pancho behaviour too-“

He was cut off by Rob who had began chuckling.

“What if he just thinks you’re messing with him? You _are_ inherently the most compulsive sociopathic liar in the kingdom. _Aside from Julie._ ” He uttered that last bit under his breath.

“Oh. I never thought a’ that-“

“Listen. Being in love can do wonders for a person— it’s a medically proven fact. If handled wrong, it can be unbearable. I, myself, once lost my life to a broken heart!” The former club kid said dramatically. “We may not be _friends_ but I’ve treated Pancho and I’ve treated you. I’ve seen how you are around each other. It would be sad to let such a relationship go-”

“Why don’t you just get stuffed? What d’you know about Pancho? Why’d you ca-“

“I’m not afraid of you; you can bare your teeth all you like.” Rob simply smiled and pat him on the head “I’ve seen Dr. S eat birds out of the sky. I would expect he could _lunge_ and trap a bird demon in his jaws too…”

The bat grimaced. “Why you gotta stay stuff like that every time I come in here-“

“-Anyway! All relationship status issues going on in your own lives aside,” Rob continued firmly, “It would be nice for Pancho to know he has someone he can trust. Someone he can put down as his next-of-kin? Things like that. He doesn’t have any family, you know. None he can remember or hasn’t divorced, at least. You may be the most untrustworthy person in the kingdom, Andy Fairfax, but Pancho chose you.”

Preoccupation with all that had come out about Pancho cancelled out any smart remarks Andy would have usually come back with.

“Why do you care, nurse?”

The disfigured lemur straightened up— as straight as he could manage.

“I guess I can’t help but care about you all. I care for all my patients, really.” Rob replied fondly. “I was around during the days of King Julien XII and the Footstall Programme. Of course, I was too busy snorting powder and dancing in those days to notice anything.” He chuckled wistfully before furrowing his brow, placing a gloved hand on the bat’s shoulder. “We don’t have the power to change the past, but we can make a better future for ourselves and the ones we care about.”

When the conman left the cave at last, he found himself unable to disagree with anything that Rob McTodd had said.


	3. old

Andy had _known_  ever since Pancho had been complaining in their cell about how he was jealous that Andy had ‘built-in blankets’; they had started off joking about it like they usually did but somehow they had both ended up laying on the bottom bunk; Pancho curled up with his head resting on Andy’s chest. He had looked down and seen the red lemur tucked comfortably under his wing.

He had noted that they may get beaten up if caught sleeping in this position and Pancho, while drifting off into a calm sleep, had replied with a devious grin, “Aw  _no._  We’ll just have to _kill ‘em all_ , Fairfax.”

- 

 

Who was knocking at his door this late at night? It was around the time all the clubs and bars closed and he would occasionally get all sorts coming to his door, intoxicated, willing to pay for whatever it was they wanted in order to keep the night going.

He was surprised, however, to open the door and see Horst and Willie, who were both on either side of Pancho, supporting him. He seemed a _bit_ drunk.

Andy looked from Pancho, who had turned around (unfortunately for Willie who struggled to keep the supportive hold of him) and had started drunken yelling into the darkness at a random couple in the distance, to Horst. If the local alcoholic thought it best to bring him here rather than just carry him home— Pancho must have gotten really drunk.

As if answering an unspoken question, Willie exclaimed. “Sorry about the time! We just didn’t know what to do with him, did we?”

Pancho leant sideways against Horst & slurred, “Hey, sweetheart. You ever wondered _-hic! –_ what cans of dog food taste like? But on a _nuclear submarine_ -“

“We didn’t think it right to just take him home. Seeing as, you know. There’s no one there.” Horst did an excellent job, as he always did, ignoring the antics of those less able to handle drink in the ridiculous quantities as he did daily. “And we couldn’t think of anything else.”

“Thank you. I’ll take ‘im.”

Pancho’s head snapped up suddenly as he heard the fruit bat’s voice and realised where he was. He, in his drunken state, assumed that they were just taking him back to the home he had made for himself in the nuclear submarine. Or, he was just being removed by security because there was some Julien-related event? Usual Party Kingdom happenings that he generally expected.

He hadn’t expected a bird demon encounter tonight.

As he saw, through a haze, Andy Fairfax leant up against the doorframe talking to Horst in that _stupid_ sultry tone he suddenly felt like he was going to be sick. _Why did they bring him here?_

He looked a little cheerier than his usual business default, though. A little more genuinely happy. Perhaps…Andy was happy to see him too?

Pancho felt Willie pat him on the back and gently nudge him towards Andy’s door. He was sure he would have seemed shaky — at leasts that was how he felt— as he ducked inside. He brushed his friend’s wing as he passed and the leathery texture suddenly forced up the dread he had tried to drown.

Horst and Willie took their leave (Horst also purchased a bottle of illicit beverage on his way out).

Andy told him to wait while he went and got him some water from the tap. He was snickering under his breath, thinking about how grumpy Pancho was going to feel in the morning. He couldn’t wait to tell Becca and Abner this story.

Still, it was nice to have Pancho here, sitting crosslegged on the ground and swaying slightly from the intoxication. He was glad that the lemur at least would be safe under the roof of his cozy money laundering warehouse front. Well, one of them anyway. One of the cozier ones.

“Hey. Panchy. You’ll never guess what happened t’day; y’know Ted? He’s like _assistant_ captain of the royal guard but he offed someone, somehow! Yadda yadda, basically, I took him to Dr. S and I saw Nurse Phantom n’ talked to him for a bit. I think he like, hates me or somethin’. Hey, y’know what I hate? I hate when people are really vague about why they hate me, I mean there’s a lot of potential reasons just pick one, y’know?”

As he hammered on about the day, Pancho looked, for an almost awkward amount of time, directly into his friend’s eyes when he turned to face him again, before the lemur’s face crumpled and he suddenly started to tear up.

“Oh- Panchy!” Andy put the glass down and instead swooped to hold Pancho in a very gentle hug. “What’s wrong?”

The lemur was stiff and shaky in his hold. He sobbed a few time, rubbing his wet face with his paws, muttering a jumbled mix of curses and aplogises. “I don’t really re-remember what happened b-but you were sayin’ somehin’ about the hospital and I think I hurt you—?” 

“Oh, that. Yeah, you was like a warrior.” Andy nodded, full of energy, his tone hinted definite admiration. However, his grin faded when he felt Pancho cry out dramatically and start to sob harder in his arms. _“But_ _!_ But I ain’t hurt or nothin’! Well, not really.” He lifted Pancho’s chin with his claw and smiled into his watery amber eyes. “I thought you liked fightin. Ya good at it — some could say, the best. If you don’t include… y’know. That cop lady who’s always kickin’ our heads in.”

Pancho shook his head.

“I dunno, Andy. It’s okay if _I_ fight and _I’m_ doin’ it. Y’know? All my own actions. But when I can’t remember — or I think back and there are just these, these black spots in my mind and then I come back and I’ve hurt people or worse or—?” Pancho gulped audibly.“ Y’know I’m not opposed to violence in any way but I gotta admit; it scares me; bein’ in the dark. Wouldn’t it scare you?”

Andy rubbed the smaller mammal’s shoulder with his wing.

“You don’t hate me?” Pancho asked quietly to which Andy suddenly cackled.

“Why would I hate you?”

“ ‘Cause I nearly killed you?”

“You’d never kill me! You’ve gone soft if you think I’d let that happen; who’d you think I am?” Andy replied defiantly. “You nearly killed the King but you’re still tight with him, huh?”

“Yeah.” Pancho hiccuped and cursed under his breath. “I got so drunk, I’m gonna feel like such shit tomorrow. Do you wanna drink too?”

The thought crossed his mind, but he decided against it. “Nah. I gotta make sure you sober up! If you vomit anywhere _near_ those crates over there I’ll take you out myself.”

The red furred lemur giggled and rolled over onto his back, edging so his head could rest on Andy. He liked this and it was comfortable. He was so glad he wasn’t outside on his own anymore. He felt the curve of his taller friend’s claw gently stroke the side of his head. Pancho found himself wanting to smile and bury his face in his charming friend’s soft fur — but he felt his stomach start to churn as soon as he realised how safe he felt. How complete he felt. Even the sober side of him urged him to break the silence: he hadn’t felt so lonely in a long time. He had been feeling so bad that he was certain he would never feel secure again. That was, until he found himself here.

“Andy? Could I ask you somethin’?”

“Sure.”

Pancho gave a loud, uncomfortable groan and gently hit the floor with his fist. “This is really something I’d probably never say if I was sober by the way-“ His fingers tapped the ground anxiously. The fear that everything could end after this seemingly regular night was beating his mind with a sledgehammer. “I mean— aw, _sheesh_ I hope this doesn’t sound weird—“

“I ain’t never gonna know if you never come out with it.”

“I think—uh.” The crowned lemur looked up into his friend’s amber eyes while his own took in the most superficially pretty creature he had ever laid eyes on. Pancho felt like he really _was_ going to be sick.

He couldn’t. Not now. Maybe not ever.

“I was— just gonna ask if I could crash here tonight.” He said quietly, pulling himself from his friend’s ridiculously smooth fur.

“Yeah, of course. You always do.”

They both knew that that wasn’t what Pancho was really trying to come out with. What he was really trying to ask.

Neither were in the mood for a debate though, as Pancho crawled into the ‘Horizontal Ground Bed’ that Andy kept for when the lemur came to stay. He savoured the moment as he drifted off; he would worry about what was on his mind when he woke up.

For now, although he could hear the pok-pok berries falling from their branches outside the window, this was the first time he had felt safe enough to go to sleep in almost forty eight hours.


	4. times

Pancho groaned as he opened his eyes and let the light pour in. He was alone in the warehouse. He looked at the empty ceiling above him and felt the physical sensation of his heart dropping into the pit of his stomach.

This was the beginning. He didn’t even know how to _begin_ dealing with the emotions he expected to come.

He left the warehouse, wondering sadly if he would have any reason to go there anymore after Fairfax had left.

Pok-pok season was upon Madagascar.

He passed through the village, through the lemurs and rats and aye-ayes who were getting ready for the party tonight. He wracked his brain trying remember what this party was even _for,_ before remembering that their king was Julien: a being who would party without reason until the day he died and decided it didn’t matter anyway. At least it would act as some form of distraction.

-

Pancho had been seated behind a tree, drinking slowly, as the sun set. Julien and his entourage had come out and officially commenced the celebrations at one point, but who _knows_ when that was.

The red crowned lemur was so dissociated that he had just been staring over at the main crowd of animals dancing and joking, a number of serial ravers getting increasingly more intoxicated as the night went on and the music got more energetic.

Julien was crowd surfing at one point with Clover and Maurice running behind him, frantically yelling at him to be careful. He couldn’t stop thinking about how Andy’s last memory of him would be of a drunken, sobbing mess. He had always hoped they could just be cool forever.

He stared into his half empty coconut cup of liquor and fought to keep from tearing up again. He cursed himself over and over ; “ _I should have just said something! But now I’m never gonna see him again…_ ”

“Ah, look! There he is!”

His head perked up immediately as he heard excited southern beckoning and saw Becca and Abner standing between two trees.

“What do you bumpkins want?” He muttered. Why were they just _grinning_ at him? Surprisingly, he wasn’t in the mood to talk about government conspiracy theories with them. He wasn’t even in the mood to go and steal something with them.

“We was lookin’ all over for ya.” Abner said as Becca grinned and made a facial gesture directed over behind Pancho. “Fairfax wants to see ya.”

Pancho raised an eyebrow and grit his teeth. “He’s _..gone,_ though. What do you mean?”

“What are you _talkin_ ’ about?” Becca put her hand on her hip and started to laugh. “Did ya hear that? _He’s gone though!_ ”

Pancho turned to leave and what filled his vision suddenly was his upside down friend’s smug face; Pancho yelped in shock and let his fist move before his mind.

Becca and Abner collapsed with laughter against their nearest respective tree only a few seconds after Pancho had punched Andy’s jaw so hard he dislodged him from the branch he was hanging from.

“Pancho! You’re outta control!” Andy picked himself up and brushed the ground dirt from his fur.

The crowned lemur just stared up at him, mouth slightly ajar. Becca and Abner were still in hysterics in the background but Pancho had long since began filtering them out.

“What’s a matter?” Andy laughed at Pancho’s stunned expression. “Is you high?”

Pancho silently placed his hands on the bat’s face. He stroked his face fur for a few seconds before confirming to himself that: Yes— he _was_ really there.

“Why’re you here?” Pancho asked, trying desperately to hold in the brimming hope in his voice.  

Andy looked confused. “Why is _you_ here?”

“Did you come to say goodbye?” Pancho asked softly. Abner and Becca had settled down by this point and just seemed to be waiting on the sidelines now.

“What’re you talkin’ about?. Where’d I be goin’? I jus’ went to give Ted somethin’ I owed him this mornin’.”

Pancho pointed upwards to the up summer night sky. “The pok-poks are falling. You told me this was gonna be the time you always leave and go to another kingdom. I thought — y’know. You’d move to another kingdom and change your name and...I’d never see you again.”

 _“Oh!_ That!” The bat laughed. “No! I decided ta stay here _ages_ ago.”

“ _What?_ ”

“Yeah! I thought I must’a told ya at _some_ point. Anyway, what d’you think’d happen to all the storehouses I got here?”

Pancho was struggling to hold back full-on tears. “I thought— you’d get someone else to run ‘em from here-“

Pancho felt one of Andy’s wings slide onto the top of his head.

 _“That’s_ why you’s been actin’ so weird recently! That’s why ya got so drunk last night too?”

Pancho scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, I guess.”

“I ain’t leavin’, Francisco.” Andy went to scoop the shorter man into his arms and pulled him close to his chest. “It’s not like I _intended_ this but, I guess, I loves you way too much. To the point everything’d just suck without you! Even if you _are_ a mess.”

Pancho couldn’t stop the involuntary smile that slowly stretched across his face.

“Really?”

“Yeah! ‘Course! I’ve always told you-“

Pancho got on his tiptoes and growled. “I swear, If this a prank and you n’ the hillbillies are just tryna make me look dumb, I _swear!_ I’ll break your face, man!”

As a response to this threat the fruit bat just smiled wider and kissed Pancho’s forehead. “You’re my favourite, Pancho”

 _“Hoo-ah…”_ Pancho looked up and smiled back through blurry eyes. “I uh, really like you too. Even if you _are_ a scumbag.”

“C’mon, now! We best be goin’, honey. Leave them two _alone.”_ Becca giggled as she took her husband’s arm and they ducked off through the trees, talking excitedly until they and their voices faded into the neon strobes and constant electronic bass.

—

The lemur and the fruit bat sat on a branch for the rest of the night, observing the party down below. Pancho had found himself blanketed very comfortably by Andy’s wings. They could see above the skyline and all the way to the ocean.

“You ever been beyond there?” Pancho pointed.

“Yeah; I’ll take you wit’ me next time.”

“Hoo-ah! I can’t wait to commit petty crime in a _different_ country.” Pancho grinned deviously and rubbed his hands together. “We can go back to mine later on, if you want. I got some millipedes that we could … _chew.”_  

“Your house is _weird,_ I swear I’ll never get a grip on your ceiling.”

“OH! The _horror!_ You’ll just have to cuddle me when we sleep, then.”

“Tempting proposition, but, have you considered _accepting_ upside down cuddles?”

“I dunno, man. Suit ya’self. You can just be lonely on your ceiling – or, you could be cuddling —  _this.”_ Pancho laughed triumphantly and then nuzzled his partner’s neck with the top of his head, which was reciprocated by more nuzzling and a kiss.

“I feel like a breakfast burrito.” Pancho smiled as he leant into the taller mammal, feeling truly safe and warm with the bat’s wing wrapped around him like a big leathery blanket.

“This?” Andy pretended to inspect him, ending with poking his tummy which made Pancho giggle and swat his claw away. _“_ This is, for sure, the cutest breakfast burrito I ever seen! I loves this breakfast burrito.”

Pancho just smiled and sighed blissfully. “You’re so weird.”

For the rest of the night, the party went on uninterrupted. Nothing was stolen. Nothing even illegal was sold (much to Julien’s disappointment ).

Clover was also disappointed that there were no criminals to beat up, as the usual two culprits were too busy kissing _each other_ in a tree as the orange pok-pok fruits fell to the jungle floor from the branches around them (source: Xixi). 

 _“Aw?”_ Clover looked up onto the tree line as the festivities slowly came to a close and people had started to go home. “Perhaps Pancho and Fairfax are gonna, y’know, calm down now? That’d make my job a hell of a lot easier.”

Maurice shuffled by, shaking his head and clearing up trash with a broom. “Give it one day, Clover. I have a _feeling_ they’re gonna get _so much worse.”_


End file.
